


Collision Course

by Thunderrrstruck



Series: Stark Expo '38 [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Concussions, Father-Son Relationship, Football | Soccer, Gen, Head Injury, Teen Years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:20:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27238696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thunderrrstruck/pseuds/Thunderrrstruck
Summary: William collides with a member of the rival soccer team, cutting his game short.
Relationships: Tony Stark & Original Child Character(s), Tony Stark & Original Male Character(s), Tony Stark & William Stark-Potts
Series: Stark Expo '38 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1581913
Kudos: 1
Collections: Whumptober





	Collision Course

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day 26 of Whumptober2020. Prompt: Concussion.
> 
> Hip hip hooray for dad!Tony! Exactly what the mcu lacks.

Will can’t keep his eyes steady. His hand sways with his hand, barely able to keep the ice pack in place. The nurse hovers around him, either testing his pupi’s or catching the ice before it falls.

“You hit Aronson pretty hard, there, pal,” she says. “All signs point to concussion. You should sit the rest of the game out, and if nausea persists, we’re gonna have to bring you to a real office.”

“’M fine, really,” Will insists from where he perched on his soccer ball. He adds a shrug in for good measure while squinting up at the medic and silently wishing the layer of clouds weren’t so thin today. _Why must the sun be so penetratingly bright?_ “I'n go in right now." He grunted at the slip up. " _Can_. I _can_ go in.”

The medic answers him with a flash of a flat smile before proceeding to attend to the other player. Quickest way to shut someone down, he reflects. His toes twitch at the thought of resting idly by for another hour, having not even had the chance to shoot of goal. He felt as if the referee's whistle had just blown, signalling the state of the game. Will ran out to the left, he hollered for the pass, he caught it _beautifully_... then his skull wrapped against another's. Will closed his eyes and ducked his head, chasing the memory from his thoughts again. In that time, a body fills in the space in front of him. It's not the nurse–

“How you feeling, kid?”

Will studies the inside of his eyelids. “Amazing,” he tells his dad, although the dryness of each syllable sings of a different story. A hand falls on his knee, and for a second, the nausea dissipates.

“Good job out there,” Dad says, a compliment Will opens his mouth to refute, but he is steamrolled before he has the chance. “I mean it, Will. Great playing. Well, great until you went and got yourself clobbered by that Ithaca player.” He not-so-subtly gestured his head towards the boy catty-cornered behind the son of Stark.

Will keeps his eyes closed and mouth sealed as his stomach twists into knots. An unconvinced chuckle leaves him.

“I’m serious!” Tony persists, but Will doesn’t risk meeting his eyes in fear of seeing his own doubt reflected back at him. “Still nauseated?”

He frowns. “I didn’t say anything..?”

“Don't forget who you’re talking to? I got a laundry list of injuries, of which head traumas aren't even the worst part. Here's hoping you never beat _that_ kind of record.” At this point, Will flicks his gaze up to meet his father’s. In stark contrast to his own anxieties, he feels a warmth ignite in his chest with their eye contact. Tony breaks first in order to heave himself onto the grass. Once settled, he glances over and taps the ball beneath his son. “Get off that and seat yourself on level ground. It’s better for you.”

Will’s head pounds in protest, but he rises, nudges the ball away, and sits back down (half collapsing to the ground). A hand lands on his shoulder gives it a squeeze, before snaking around his shoulders. Before he realises it, Will is enveloped in a one-sided hug. Together, father and son watch the rest of the game.


End file.
